Luck / O Lord

For the poem and its interpretation, please go to: Luck / O Lord (minutes 18:58 - 1:12)

Inspired by a snapshot that was taken in a convenience store in Warsaw in 2017, Luck / O Lord is a poem that deals with the phenomenon of the  “Lucky Jew” figurines in Poland.  Both poem and photo were sent to various musicians and animators, asking them to interpret them in any way they saw fit.  The ensuing performance piece Luck / O Lord became a collaborative 50 minute musical exploration and was followed by a lively 3 hour discussion with internationally leading figures who work and research in the field of antisemitism, anthropology, museum education, and tourism.

In these photo and poem, the seemingly naive and traditional dolls turn fierce and elicit intensive speculation. They set in motion a plethora of readings and points of view through the binaries of female/male, young/old, traditional Poles/Jews, black & white / colourful. The poem, which appears to be a monologue of a wooing lover, is also a self-reflective conversation with other poetic works. Laufer plays with problematic incomprehensibility in her work. Very likeable figurines that are “souvenir” for luck, yet essentially anti semitic in character.

This event took place in the framework of the Lucky Jewathon Festival. This brainchild of Michael Rubenfeld, was a 3-day / 72-hour interactive series of online performances aired on November 26-28, 2020, by FESTIVALT. The 72-hour marathon discussed issues arising from the so-called “Lucky Jews” of Poland. 

I thank Adi Kantor, Alex Stolze, Andy Simanowitz, Ana Vallejo, Anna Lowenstein, Arian Abadi, Ben Osborn, Carlos Metta, Carolyn Gammon, Dan Wolf, Daniel Laufer, Eliana Pliskin Jacobs, Ella Joy Meir, Hori Izhaki, Kirsty Kross, Marc Wrasse, Michaela Meise, Persefoni Myrtsou, Sarah Gampel, Sarit Shatzky, Rebecca Guber & Yuval Rapaport for their contribution